Monthly Archives: August 2008

1. Neko Case didn’t disappoint. She wailed for an hour, played fantastic NEW SONGS from an album coming out next March, and made charmingly awkward small talk between songs. My favorite? Introducing a song by Harry Nilsson, she said, “I like to think that his spirit haunts pinball machines.”

2. I have the day off! I’m going to try to finish a dress, so I have a new fall dress to wear immediately after Labor Day, just like the movie Picnic.

3. Science news of the week: Researchers have discovered that crows (and probably other corvidae) can not only recognize and remember human faces, they can hold a grudge. Don’t piss off a crow!

Neko Case, who’s been described as sounding like “the angry ghost of Patsy Cline” and whose lyrics resemble an American Gothic fairy tale, is playing the FREE Twilight Concert at the Gallivan Center Tonight.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m going, and you should go, too. Everyone should go! (Actually, if you’re 17, pushy, and wearing a page from the Urban Outfitters catalog, you can stay home. I don’t want a repeat of the last Twilight Concert I went to.) Everyone ELSE needs to go, though. You can come stand with us. Maybe we should bring some flowers to throw at her.

Check out a couple songs and a video here if you don’t want to take my word for it.

I found another good one on Writer’s Almanac last week. I’ve never heard of Barbara Hamby but she sounds more like Kerouac than Kerouac did. (Any poem that can combine “hallelujah” and “coreopsis” is all right by me.)

It’s a long one so I’m linking to it, but go read it and be happy at the sheer sound of it.

That’s what knitting guru Elizabeth Zimmermann said, and I agree. It’s so nice to work with soft springy apple green wool instead of flaccid cotton. (Although with that descriptor, who wouldn’t prefer wool?)

Here’s about 1/3 of a sweater from a pattern said Elizabeth thought up for a baby, modified for an adult (not by me, though; by this knitter). It’s a delight to knit and I’ve been stuffing the ever-growing thing in my purse so I can do a pattern repeat on my lunch hour. I’ve realized I don’t wear the bigger things I knit, just the scarves and gloves and hats, so I’m hoping this one will break the trend.

1. Go listen to some cowboy music today because it’s my dad’s birthday! He’s lived by The Cowboy Code his whole life and taught me to do the same. To celebrate today, he’s probably going to ride his bike 100 miles or something, because he’s tough like that. Happy Birthday, Dad! (Edited to add: Yes, he is actually doing a century ride today, and it’s Ray Bradbury’s birthday today, too.)

2. Mark your calendars–if you want to exhibit anything in the State Fair, the Home Arts division is accepting entries next Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. (Other dates to keep in mind: The State Fair’s demolition derby is September 14th, and Blue Moon Ranch is having their Open Farm Day September 27th and 28th.)

3. Speaking of State Fair, I watched the musical in its entirety Wednesday night and oh, the costumes. And oh, the flimsy plot. And oh, how musicals have their happy endings. Up next: Meet Me In St. Louis.

I meant to give a Toby update at the beginning of the week, but by the time I got the quotes and Tuesday’s project out of the way, he wasn’t really getting any better. Friday’s trip to the vet was pretty major–three shots and fluids in a kitty IV, none of which went well–and I hated to take him back, but back he went yesterday. All I can say is, it’s a good thing I can take the top off of his kitty carrier, because he wasn’t about to come out of it in the office.

It’s an even better thing that he doesn’t appear to have swallowed any of my crafty supplies and that we think we can get him better with more antibiotics. I’m still giving him tuna-flavored medicine and now I get to squirt pink medicine in his mouth, too, that’s bubble-gum flavored. Which makes me wonder: “Who in the hell thinks that cat medicine should taste like bubble gum?”

Here’s the little tyke in the happier times of early last week, before someone tried to squirt things in his mouth three times a day: He’s improving already. He just doesn’t like the taste of bubble gum.

This actually isn’t that heart-warming, but it had the best line of my internet reading yesterday. Apparently, an emperor penguin has been part of the King’s Guard in Norway since the Edinburgh Zoo let them adopt one in 1922. The latest penguin (they’re all named “Nils Olav”) just got knighted:“During the ceremony, Nils had a sword dubbed on each side of his head, where his shoulders should be, to confirm his regimental knighthood.”

I thought I should wear all black, the universal sign of sophistication, to my high-school reunion, but I hate wearing black and sewing it is even more boring. So I decided on navy blue, since, as Cecil Beaton said, “Chanel demonstrated that nothing was more chic than fine linen, navy-blue serge, and lots of soap.”

I had a pattern from my mother’s stash that wanted to be made for a special occasion (well, it wasn’t a muumuu, so it seemed dressy), so I went for the “navy-blue and lots of soap” Jackie O look, minus that back belt:It actually doesn’t look like much on the hanger, but with a tan, pearl studs, and a yellow clutch, it was just right:

And with that Grosse Pointe Blank quote for a title, here’s the high school reunion experience…in quotes. I went with Mr. Isbell; the lovely Amber and her Ideal Husband shared in the alienation and hard alcohol.

“Everyone looks vaguely familiar, but only in the way that people who live in Salt Lake all look familiar.”

“I expected there to be baby races or something.”

“His wife’s cute.” “Apparently, she’s a good cook!”

“Sweetie, can we have one baby while the first one is still a baby?”

“I have, like, a million ants.” “We have half an acre of ants.”[There were awards for things like “Most Pets.” We wanted to win.]

“Look around the room: We have cookies from Costco.”[Ideal Husband went to Judge Memorial and had a guy selling cocaine from the next locker. Amber had a bag of cookies from Costco in her locker during high school. That phrase just summed it up for me.]